17 October 2010

Bicycles by Night

As a follow up to the previous post about the live updated bike share tracker, I thought I'd have a look at the action at 22:30 on a Saturday evening.

Here's the screengrab from the Bike-o-meter. I realise that in a few countries there is an awful lot of focus on 'commuting'. The act of riding a bicycle for transport often only gets mentioned as a way to get from home to work and back again in North America, Australasia and Britain.

This is a far too narrow way to sell urban cycling. The cities that are booming - thanks to the bike share systems but also a whole slough of of initiatives - are working to firmly re-plant the bicycle on the urban landscape. Making the bicycle the way to get around the city all all times. Down to the shops. To a café. The supermarket. Et cetera. Getting to and from work is only one aspect of it but it gets too much press.

Look at Barcelona. From no bikes three years ago to almost 5% modal split. The bicycles are on the move all day long. At 22:30 in Barcelona 13% of their bike share bikes are in action. Impressive.

I find that many of my friends who commute by bike also use bikes instead of cars for errands, social trips and the like. Many of us use the term commuter cycling to give name to our practice of "cycling by default" instead of "using a car by default."

bikeolounger: It's quite likely that you also refer to yourselves as "consumers" and stories as "franchises."

These are all symptoms of the same disease, which, while no longer uniquely American at least got its start here. Other people from other places may well find it peculiar how The People have adopted the intentionally dehumanizing technical language (people do not exist in this language; only demographics, market share and other like statistics) of the social planers, accountants and marketing executives as their own common tongue of the street.

In the minds of the latter there are only two transportational needs - commuting and shopping.

Language tends to control thought. Keep using this language long enough and soon you will only be able to think of the bicycle as transportation in those terms. You really ought to quit it.

Kilometres cycled by Copenhageners so far today

Copenhagenize.com is the blog of Copenhagenize Design Company. Online since 2007 and highlighting the cycling life in Copenhagen and around the world.

40 years ago Copenhagen was just as car-clogged as anywhere else but now 41% of the population arriving at work or education do so on bicycles, from all over the Metro area. 55% of Copenhageners themselves use bicycles each day. They all use over 1000 km of bicycle lanes in Greater Copenhagen for their journeys. Copenhagenizing is possible anywhere.